1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to management of test stations in a manufacturing environment and particularly to managing test files distributed to test stations for testing products.
2. Description of Related Art
Current manufacturing processes often include a test stage where products are inspected and/or tested for proper operation and quality. Often, these test stations employ computers to perform tasks such as executing test programs, interfacing with and configuring test equipment, providing instructions to an operator and storing test results.
Managing computer-readable test files used at each test station can be a daunting task. As new versions of test files (input data, test applications, etc.) are developed, each test station computer needs to be updated to include the latest release of the test files. In addition, each test station should use the same test files so that test results gathered at each test station can be grouped or otherwise more efficiently managed.
The process of managing test files stored at each test station has been performed by support personnel physically visiting each test station to ensure that the proper test files are installed. This is a time-intensive process prone to human error. As the number of test stations increases, the delay in updating the test files for each test station can disrupt the manufacturing process and increase lead times.